Tuesday, 16 March 2021

Touching?

A team at Umea University (Sweden) have investigated why human touch seems so exquisite (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/15/top-tips-study-sheds-light-role-fingerprints-sense-touch). The study found the receptive fields for mechanoreceptor neurones, covered several fingertip ridges. In some of these areas, however, deflection of a single ridge, could evoke a neural response. We have very many nerve fibres, with very small receptive fields, at our fingertips!

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